This film is terrible!

I was hoping that this would have all the trappings of a good noir-in-color like Chinatown or L.A. Confidential, but it appeared to be made on a limited budget so there were no redeeming visual elements. The sex was gratituous and disgusting. Why Jeremy Northam takes on these roles, I'll never understand. I was very surprised that Mel Gibson would appear in a movie that has such "depraved" elements, with all this buzz about his orthodox Catholicism, but hypocrities run Hollywood, so no big surprise.
I myself almost walked out, I found the movie so odd and disgusting from the outset, but I'm glad I stayed. The final few scenes were surprisingly funny and positive. Robert Downey Jr. is an incredible actor, who obviously uses his real life to bring greater significance to his roles. The final shot of him in a recovered state was so damn sexy it was worth the price of admission, I thought. But I'd have to rate the film overall a C.

I can only agree, VERY much! :)

I haven't seen this movie, but just started the BBC version. I suspect this may be "opposite sides of the Atlantic" problem. I like these actors, and the song and dance numbers were amusing if odd, but the whole thing was boring as can be. I am sticking with it (all 400 minutes)because of the actors and the reviews, but so far it's like being forced to eat spinach, gaggingly bland. A British coach tour driver raved to me about delicious sausage he found in Germany; white, because it was pure fat. I was nauseous just listening to him. Maybe this is a sausage equivalent. Does not go down well here.

I just bought the original series and that's good enough for me.
The characters name in Hospital is Philip Marlow(no e) not Dan Dark. That should tell you what this movie is like.
With remakes of this and "Ladykillers" is the Americal film industry making any original movies that are not preachy, judmental, blind patriotic, xenophobic, formulaic?

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Okay here goes...I think the point of the flim is seeing your mother have nasty sex with your father's business partner can really mess with a kids head. Might seem obvious when you put it that way but really I'm not so sure and I think perhaps that's the reason for this flim. Sex is a religion these days (really there have always been those who worship their baser lusts as gods). Northam's characters are really quite common in our world, how many of us know a guy who loves to look at himself in a mirror while having sex, loves to brag about his exploits. We have scienctists commiting heinous crimes and calling it research, there are studies that say mabye having sex with children is'nt such a bad thing. So my point is here is a film that at the very least acknowledges that there is such a thing as right and wrong. A woman commiting adultery while her child watches is wrong and causes him harm. His father beating him and her for doing it is wrong and causes damgage. Her prostituing herself is wrong, and causes damgage. The problem with his skin is only part of the problem, in a film its a visual way to display the problem that's going on inside. So I don't really see Mel's involvment in this film as hypocritical. No in reality perhpas he sees something redeming in it. Now personally I wish there was another way to make the point without all the lewd sex scences, but the point is that is our culture now. We live in a socitey that has changed the meaning of the words whore and pimp to mean something cool, something to aspire to, (listen to some pop music and watch the videos and you'll see what I'm talking about). Being a pimp is cool, and being a whore just means you really like sex, and who are we to judge that. But here's a film that says wait a minute, a pimp is a guy who traffics in flesh, and a whore is someone who has sold themselves (just like our society has but we're worse off because we're actually paying to be whores). So his wife in that, I think its that last noir scence, says it, you have taken everything that's good about sex and love and marriage and poluted it, and turned every woman into a whore and that's disgusting, i.e. wrong. I really don't care if any of you think I'm beging judgmental, I am, I am judging myself here as well as our culture, and like Mr. Gibson I know who'll I'll give an account to when I die, and it won't be any of you.
As to the cheesy dialouge, and sets during the noir sections of the film. It was supposed to be that was. The director in the commentary said he was going for the cheesy 1950's noir effect where everything was shot on what were obviously sets. Why? The novel is set in the 50's and plus all those scences are taking place in Dark's head. Incomplete, like a maze he's working his way through, for example in the bar at the begining, we don't see anyone else because, he does not "see" anyone else. The director decscribes it as hyper-noir.
Anyhow I'd give it a 7.5/10. Solid performances from the actors, good story if you can follow it, but I really don't like all the nasty sex, but I'll give it that half point because I think that's the point.
Spread the Love...I'm Out...

I completly agree with you junmengo. I think this film is very under rated.